France, Britain and Russia to swim against the USA but why not include Germany, Italy, and the rest of Europe?

A meet between USA Swimming and the Ligue Europeenne de Natation (European League of Swimming) will take place next December yet the majority of Europe won't attend. Also what seems rather "pithy" is the comment that Italy is not invited.

Well, there goes a chance to see Federica Pellegrini swim against Katie Hoff or perhaps Dara Torres against Britta Steffen since Germany too is not on the list.

From Swim News:

President of French swimming, Francis Luyce, is reported in Gazzetta dello Sport as saying that the combined forces of France, Britain and Russia will take on the USA at a "dual" meet in the third week in December, immediately after what may be the last European s/c championships held in that month. Italy, the paper notes, is not invited.

[Link]

Dope test created for an advanced form of the blood booster EPO! - Beijing athletes to be retested!

CERA is a newly created form of Epogen or "EPO" creted by Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche. It ultimatley is an advanced form of Epogen that both kidney failure patients and corrupt endurance athletes want.

Amgen developed Epogen first and litterally made billions-of-dollars off its sales thus setting Amgen up as the biotech giant it is today. After 17-years, the Epogen patent expired allowing other drug manufacturers to "monkey" with it and make revised versions of it. That's where Roche comes in.

Roche adds a "...gylcol molecule" to the EPO making it more powerful and subsequently requiring patients to receive less doses of it. Patients like the idea of receiving fewer shots and cheaters, who are obviously more inspired by a more powerful form of EPO, began taking it. However, there is this little detail the dopers missed and I suspect that little detail is the "Methoxy polyethylene glycol" molecule they added to it. (Who has that molecule bouncing around their system like a carbonated bubble inside a bottle Perrier? Not me!)

Roche knows what they created and they know the consequences, so they hook up with WADA and I have a strong suspicion that they said, test for "Methoxy polyethylene glycol." My reference for believing that is the test marker is this NPR article that references it: [Link]

The Guardian: "...On Wednesday the International Olympic Committee said the new Cera blood test would be used to analyse almost 1,000 blood samples collected during the Beijing Games, and an IOC spokeswoman added last night that these samples could also be tested for autologous transfusions "if a method is fully validated by the scientific community [and] Wada.". ..." [Link]

The Associated Press: "...The head of the Tour de France on Tuesday hailed a new lab test that has exposed three riders in the 2008 race for cheating with an advanced form of the blood booster EPO.

"It's very good. It allows us to confound the cheaters," Christian Prudhomme told The Associated Press by phone. "What's being done at the Tour de France has never existed in the world of sport, in no competition."..." [Link]

However, The Giro d'Italia Chief won't retest riders for CERA because he "knows that all his riders were all clean." (I can just see our American NFL Commissioner saying to himself, "yeah, that has a nice ring to it as a drug protocol - Gosh, I soooo stupid not to have thought that up myself!")

Vello News: '...According to Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday, Zomegnan believes none of the riders on the race - won by Spaniard Alberto Contador - used the drug. ..." Vello News: [Link]

Thanks to the French Coach for suggesting this article.

When in doubt, post a story about Laure Manaudou

UPDATE: Manaudou: I Can Win The Italian Way

From Swim news:

"In Italy I will show that I can win another way, by training another way. I'm used to pressure: over the year, I've become the only winning Frenchwoman." We assume she means in a pool, and we assume she's forgotten the European crowns won by the likes of her former teammate with Lucas, Esther Baron, and Alena Popchanka, coached by Fred Vergnoux in Edinburgh.

...

"Luca Marin will be there," he told the Italian and French press, adding that he would call French technical director Claude Fauquet today to talk about Manaudou's form. Her new coach Paolo Penso was reported as being "90 per cent" sure that she would also race at the French nationals.

Well, that's nice. Perhaps France would like to make that 100 per cent, if only to draw in the crowds." [Link]

-- • --

Laure Manaudou has significantly changed her training after spliting from her former coach. Though the type of workouts are not mentioned she alludes primarily to emotional and diet changes. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, the Gazzetta dello Sport, Manaudou stated the following:

• While maturing, I learned more things and I opened the eyes, even if I do not disavow the past", said the world champion.

• "I had to be only a machine, whereas I have also a heart and a head. I often cried and I was not able to eat correctly", said Manaudou about her trainings in Canet-in-Roussillon (southern of France): [Link]
  

I think coaches have to be quasi-psychologists or diplomats I suppose to ensure both the athlete and the coach have a mutual understanding of what needs to be accomplished. Manaudou in this interview is summarily accusing this coach of abuse. Maybe it is a misunderstanding, maybe it is not. Results with tell.